Scorpia Rising V - Abduction
by sevenofmine
Summary: Follow-up. Summary of the previous parts inside. The tensions between USA and Israel are growing. Special Agent Ryan was abducted and when the team's investigation leads to Mexico, they don't only find out the truth about the agent but Tony gets abducted by Mossad agents who seek revenge for the death of director Eli David.Who is it now asking the dangerous hitman sisters for help?
1. Abduction

**I don't own anything. Scorpia and Scorpia Rising are elements of the Alex Rider book series.**

**What happened before:**

**_Scorpia Rising I:_ An old nemesis of Tony hires the criminal organization Scorpia to kill him. They send the hit man Caroline after him but the NCIS team can uncover the identity of the organization's members and only Caroline, her younger sister Katarina and their boss Dr. Medici could flee.**

**_Scorpia Rising II:_ On 09/11/12 the National Museum at Washington DC is attacked by a plane and Tony gets wounded and hospitalized. Only moments before the hospital blows up by a bomb attack, he gets rescued by Caroline and Katarina and he learns that they are working for a new organization, also called Scorpia Rising, who is responsible for those attacks. The NCIS team finds out again the plans of Scorpia and the sisters help them with killing its leaders. Tony is freed but the sisters managed to disappear once more.**

**_Scorpia Rising III:_ In the morning of their wedding, Ziva gets abducted from her father to Israel and Tony decides to ask the sisters for help. Together they enter Israel and with the help of a terroristic group, they are able to free Ziva and Tony has to shoot Eli David to escape. Four months later, Ziva is pregnant and Tony gets arrested by FBI for the murder of Eli David. Fornell wants to bring him to a safe house because the murder of the Mossad director by an NCIS agent off-duty is the reason for growing tensions between Israel and the USA. When Mossad agents try to kill them, Tony can fleet with the help of Katarina.**

**_Scorpia Rising IV:_ Tony and Katarina are on the run in Malibu, Sacramento and San Francisco. She gets arrested on Hawaii and Caroline helps Tony to make an agreement with the Hawaii special unit 5-0. Officer Danny Williams accompanies Tony to the CIA headquarters on the East Coast so that he can help clarifying the circumstances under which he has killed Director David. The plane gets kidnapped but Caroline manages an emergency landing. Ziva who hides in a Safe house of FBI is attacked by Mossad agents but Caroline rescues her. About six months later, Caroline is in Mexico and a friend asks her to help him torture a Mossad spy inside NCIS who he has kidnapped from Washington DC. He hopes that he can blackmail the governments with the information he gets.**

**Characters:**

**_Caroline_ is 29/30 years old and has studied computer science in Great Britain. She became known to the team as a member of the Italian organization Scorpia and after the second known destruction she continues working as contract killer. She has two daughters, four year old Scarlet and four month old Carey.**

**_Katarina_ is 26/27 years old and Caroline's younger but more aggressive sister. She has studied Physics at Cambridge. She becomes a member of Scorpia in Scorpia Rising II but then works together with her sister as assassin. She had wanted to marry her fiancée Edoardo about one year before Scorpia Rising III but he got shot during their wedding ceremony.**

**_Edoardo_ was Katarina's deceased fiancée. His brothers took revenge for his death and Katarina starts a relation with _Federico_ in Scorpia Rising III. He and his younger brother _Alessio_ died in Scorpia Rising IV.**

**_Yassen_ was Caroline's boyfriend and father of Scarlet. He died in front of them both due to a car bomb. His younger _brother_ works as high member of the Sanchez cartel in South Mexico and he asks Caroline to torture a spy for him.**

Chapter 1

"What exactly did he want?" Katarina asked and looked up when her sister closed the door behind her. Her eyes got slowly used to the dark, there was only a small lamp in the corner turned on, the one of the ceiling was broken and the blinds at the windows were lowered because of the extreme heat outside. Caroline sat down next to Katarina on the floor who was just rocking a baby silently in her arms.

"How's my little Carey today?" the older sister asked smilingly and Katarina gave the little child carefully into the arms of its mother. "What's about Scarlet?" she asked while the baby tried grabbing her finger.

"She's sleeping…who was this guy?"

"He's a Mossad spy of DC's NCIS. When he was willing to talk, I left again. It seems like the Israeli government is planning something bigger."

"They say that new peace treaties are in negotiation?"

"Since when do the governments tell the truth, especially the American government?" Caroline answered.

Katarina hesitated for a moment. "How was he?"

"He didn't talk much. It was just about the formal things. I wonder why he abducted an Israeli spy. He said he wanted to blackmail the governments but politics has always been the interest of his brother…"

"You miss Yassen, don't you?" Katarina asked and her eyes showed that she knew exactly what her sister felt like. It was only two years ago that her fiancée she had wanted to marry, was shot.

Caroline stood up. "Carey doze off. I'll bring her to bed and prepare dinner," she declared and walked off to another room.

Katarina sighed and turned on TV.

CNN Mexico was on and they were again reporting from the up-heating situation in the US. And since North Korea has quit the ceasefire treaty with the South and officially thought about a preventive attack toward the USA, the situation grew more and more critical. The USA, knowing that they couldn't face their new enemies on their own, was obviously talking to befriended countries, although nothing was official yet.

Katarina stood up and followed her sister to the tiny kitchen. "The situation is getting worse in the States," she declared and started preparing the table.

"Have you heard something from Italy lately?" the older sister asked while turning on the cooker.

"France is still helping the Italian army but when the tensions between Israel and America are becoming more offensive, I'm not sure what Europe will do."

"Probably stay out of all this, I guess. Only send the support the UNO wants to give," she answered while concentrating on cutting potatoes.

There was a long silence until Katarina decided to wake Scarlet for dinner.

* * *

"Hey guys, have you seen Jake?" Special Agent Joanna Lindsey asked and looked over at the two agents standing in front of their TV.

"No, why?" McGee asked and turned to her.

"He never is late, but today he just didn't show up. And it's already ten."

"Perhaps he had an accident?" he suggested but Lindsey shook her head.

"I called him several times, at home and his phone. I really get worried, I could usually call him any time," she answered. With a thinking look on her face, she turned back to her agents.

Tony shrugged his shoulders and noticed Gibbs coming from the elevator with a new cup of coffee in his hands. "I just got a call. There's been a shooting at Agent Jake Ryan's house. He's disappeared and some worried neighbors called the police," he said shortly and grabbed his jacket.

"Why haven't I been informed?" Agent Lindsey turned back to them.

"I don't know. Vance has just called me," Gibbs said while noticing at the same moment that their director has approached.

"Because you stay here, Agent Lindsey. As does your team. I don't want you to investigate the abduction of one of your team members and friends."

"Abduction?"

"This is what the police has figured out. Gibbs, you'll proof that theory," he said and walked straight back to his office again.

Lindsey raised an eyebrow and turned back to Gibbs: "Please find him. He was a good agent." The boss didn't even nod but went to the elevator. The two agents looked at each other and grabbed their rucksacks to follow them.

Arriving at the crime scene, they noticed a lot of police cars and cops running around. They went closer and noticed why. Right on the doorstep was lying the body of a man, his skin was dark and he had black hair.

"His name is Juan Hernandez Santiago," a police officer said pointing at the corpse. "He works for the Sanchez cartel in South Mexico. Do you think this has something to do with drug traffic?"

"No idea yet," Gibbs answered and stepped over the body to enter the house.

The officer followed and explained: "We take along that he entered the house and Mr. Ryan notices so. He's fast and kills him immediately. But Hernandez' colleague shoots back as soon as his friend is down and Ryan has to retreat to the living room.

There he hides behind that sofa and gets grazed by a bullet, we made a fast match with the blood drops. He manages to shoot another bad guy, the one over there where your pathologist is. But more men come in and disarm Ryan. He is dragged over the floor as you can see at the blood that is spread all over the floor."

Gibbs nodded and looked at the two agents. They silently started making photos and outlines. "Ducky?" Gibbs asked and walked over to the pathologist.

"As the police officer said, this man was shot three times into the chest. They're not aimed and he tried to evade them so I assume they're self-defense shots."

"Ryan had only worked here for a few months. He never had anything to do with South American drug traffic."

"Perhaps not during his time as NCIS agent. What has he done before?" Ducky asked curiously.

* * *

"What have you found out?" Gibbs asked when he came back from Abby's lab.

"Jake Ryan, age thirty-four. He was born in Paris but went to an international school. He moved to America at age twenty-four where he starts at the Chicago Police Academy. He became NCIS agent and moved to Washington five months ago. He has never worked at a drug traffic case but funnily I can't find any contacts of who he had formerly worked with," Tony explained and handed over the pointer at McGee.

"I have done some more research. He may be on the list of graduates from the Police Academy but I can't find a photo of him in his senior year. I called the director of the academy and when he looked his records up, it seemed as if Jake Ryan has never existed there."

"I came to the same conclusion. But I also tried to call his school in Paris. They have no record either about him," Tony said with a worried face.

Gibbs nodded. "It seems as if Jake Ryan was born only to work at the NCIS. Have you tried to run his data through facial recognition software?"

"No, I'll go down to help Abby," McGee said and left. When Gibbs returned to his desk, he noticed Agent Lindsey staring over at them. "You think what I think?" he asked.

She slowly shook her head. "He couldn't have been a spy. He was a nice guy, although quite aggressive from time to time."

"Whoever he was, we need to find out where he is now."

* * *

Abby and McGee turned around when they heard Gibbs entering the lab. "What have you got?"

"We didn't find any matches in the data bank. But I finished examining the two other guy's clothes. It seems as we have found out where Agent Ryan might be now."

"Where?" the boss asked demanding.

"Both guys had flight tickets in their pockets, both also still had the return tickets. And Ducky's autopsy proofed as well that they have travelling by plane only a few hours ago," the forensic scientist said.

"Where?" Gibbs nearly shouted.

"They both came from Mexico City."

"Great. McGee, tell Tony to pack some things. We're flying to Mexico."

"But…you sure? Tony shouldn't leave Ziva and their little Kathleen alone…" Abby said.

"She can watch alone after the baby and it's only a few days until we locate Ryan. Ziva isn't in maternity leave for nothing," Gibbs answered and already headed toward Autopsy.

**Please review what you think about that start and I would really appreciate it if you told me a bit of what you're expecting from this story and what I should do better than in the previous parts. ;)**


	2. Morgue

**Please do review.**

Chapter 2

It has been a longer flight than Tony had remembered his last visit in Mexico City. And now again he was on duty while landing in the dusty heat of something called a city. He left the plane and picked up his little luggage to leave the airport along with Agents McGee and Gibbs.

He turned on his cell phone again to notice that Ziva has sent him five SMS, telling how wonderful their baby was crawling on the floor and giggling all the time as he used to. Tony concentrated on the city. He already started to sweat and then they got into a cab without air conditioning and he felt like nearly imploding.

The windows were malfunctioning and couldn't be rolled down and he looked at McGee who also seemed as if he had just left a swimming pool. The drive took an eternity until they finally arrived at the police department. They had agreed to help the NCIS team but they already knew that they shouldn't count on them. Mexico City had one of the highest corruption indexes, not only concerning the American continent.

Half the police was working for the drug cartels which were leading the city and even at bright daylight open shootings were nothing new. Tony was glad when he entered the main hall with working air conditioner and they were welcomed by a police officer. "You must be the agents of Washington, right?" he asked and shook their hands.

Gibbs introduced them and the officer led them to the elevator.

"I am sorry that you had to come all the way from Washington, but I am sorry to tell you that you are too late," he said and pressed the S-button.

Sótano, thought Tony. Basement.

"You mean Agent Ryan is dead?" McGee asked just to be sure.

The Mexican nodded. "He was found this morning in a drain in one of the suburbs."

"What is the cause of death?"

"Better you let our pathologist explain," he answered and the doors opened.

They walked down the endless corridor which reminded Tony of the computer game Batman Arkham Asylum. It smelled like moldy flesh and by grubs corroded corpses. They headed left and finally entered Autopsy.

A doctor in a dirty, and once white, overall turned to them. He seemed to be quite young and his arms were completely tattooed. When Tony came closer, he recognized Agent Jake Ryan immediately lying on the table. Or actually what was left from him.

His face was covered with dried, brown blood and his open mouth showed only a small amount of teeth. He was naked now and there were countless tiny and bigger scratches that decorated his arms and lower part of the body.

Tony saw the white bones of his legs and the adenochondrosarcoma was visible above the actual skin. Tony closed his eyes for a moment before he could process the rest of what he saw. Only now, he noticed that the agent's hand looked quite strange. Speechless he pointed at the really dark piece of skin that looked awfully burned.

"What happened there?" he stammered.

"As you can obviously see," the pathologist answered with a rough voice, "this man was tortured for information. The wound at his hand was made first as it shows the most blood loss.

His ring finger was cut with a tool like a hedge shear. Then, something sharp, probably the clippers, were drilled into the wound to increase the pain. After that, the open wound was burned with a taser, which made the upper skin layer become burnt."

Tony nodded and tried to restrain the sudden urge to vomit. When he looked over to his fellow McGee, he noticed for his relief, that he was fighting the same problem.

Even Gibbs looked a bit paler than usual. "What is…the cause of death?" the boss asked.

"Ah, yeah. The cause of death…it wasn't easy to determine as the torture marks were very grave. But I also think that he was tortured by at least two different persons."

"What makes you think so?"

"The first few bruises weren't severe but random. Only then, when the agent obviously didn't want to talk, someone else did…the thing with his hand. It is concentrated pain in one of the lower parts of the body. It creates pain but a man can hardly die from it. The person who did this was probably trained and very experienced.

I assume that after this, the agent started talking but after a while he was tortured again, randomly and with stabs of different depth. That shows again the work of a normal killer and not someone who usually creates this certain type of concentrated pain."

Gibbs nodded. "When can we deliver the body to Washington?"

"When I have finished the Autopsy. I will sent the body and the report to your pathologist," he answered and the three agents left the morgue again.

"Why should a cartel leader abduct Jake?" Tony asked puzzled when they were finally under the bright daylight again.

"No idea, but we're here to find out," Gibbs said but by the time that they had arrived at the hotel, it had become night again.

Tony and McGee, sharing a room, tried to figure out who had to sleep on the couch but regarding it's state, they agreed on both using the bed which seemed to inhabit fewer larvae and vermin. Shortly before Tony turned of the light, he pointed at the window ledge.

"Is that an earwig?" he asked with a disgusted face.

McGee already sat upright in his bed. "Tony, I definitely won't sleep here," he answered with horror in his eyes. "Can't we keep watch?"

"Because of earwigs?"

"Because of everything that lives!" McGee said.

Tony shook his head and lay down again. "Is the pillow moving?" he wondered loudly and turned around quickly.

"Don't look under it. Just don't!" McGee warned him and without a word of warning, they both jumped out of their bed together. "I won't sleep here, as I said," he declared and started to redress again.

Tony did the same and together they left their hotel room. With shocked faces they walked down to the first floor and the bar.

They noticed Gibbs and walked over to him at the counter. "Couldn't sleep?" he asked with a smile.

"Only if we were the only living persons in that room," McGee answered and the two agents sat down.

* * *

Tony noticed that he must have dozen off when he suddenly awoke in a nearly dark room. There were some lights at the bar counter which was already closed. McGee and Gibbs were sitting in two armchairs opposite to him. Tony looked around and found out why he had awoken so suddenly.

There was a shadow moving in the bare light at the other side of the room. He recognized a person but suddenly it was gone again. He wasn't sure if he remembered that face correctly but he could swear that he had seen him before.

But before he could think more about it, he had dozen off again and woke up the next day with a terrible headache and the feeling that he hasn't slept during that horrible night.

**As I already begged you before, please write me some comments although there were only quite short chapters ;)**


	3. Interrogation room

**I've decided to go for shorter chaps now. It matches better to the story.**

Chapter 3

Tony had the feeling that they had a shadow. It was the early morning after a too short night and he got up with a terrible headache. Slowly, they went back to their rooms again and suspiciously Tony examined the bathroom. With a disgusted face, he closed the door behind him and removed his clothes.

The water was ice cold but it was a good contrast to the heat in the hotel room where the air conditioner seemed far too old to be turned on without exploding. With wet hair, both agents walked down to the entry hall where they met Gibbs.

After an unsatisfying breakfast they headed back to the police department again. This was the second time that Tony had the irrefutable concern that someone was following them. But something told him that it was not only the person he had heard and probably seen last night. However, he didn't say anything but entered the police station and the same officer greeted them.

"Agent Gibbs, nice to see you again. Unfortunately, I have to inform you about some changes."

"What kind of changes?" the boss asked in a bad mood and they were led upstairs this time. When they entered the office, there were two Mexican officers waiting and two other men in suits and ties. They looked somehow West-Asian and if Tony didn't know it better, he'd say they were from Israel.

"May I introduce you to agent Samuel and Jerome from Mossad," the Mexican police man said and Gibbs stood abruptly still.

"Why are you here?" he asked challenging.

"We're also interested in the dead NCIS officer," Samuel said shortly.

Tony raised his eye. Has this man been the shadow he had recognized last night? Somehow, he remembered that face but couldn't quite tell where from. "Why? As you stated, he's an American NCIS officer."

"The fact why we investigate this matter is classified. But this is Mexican soil and we have free movement here."

Gibbs nodded, and before the tensions could grow any stronger, the Mexican officer intervened: "We have an informant. He might tell you something about the agent."

All agents nodded and followed the cop through another door into an interrogation room. A guy was sitting on a chair and smoking silently, starring at the mirror on one side of the wall. "Miguel, would you be so nice to tell those men something about Agent Jake Ryan?" the officer said and sat down on the desk.

The young man, probably in the mid-twenties, took his time and eyeballed all five foreign agents. "A few days ago, Andrei called me."

"Andrei's a former Russian hit man. He has established a drug business here in Mexico City," the cop explained.

"He told me about a guy he has kidnapped from Washington DC. I didn't believe him at first but he said it'd be something big. He said something about blackmailing a government and I thought that it would be a really big step, ya know. After what has happened to his brother, he wanted to stay someone small."

"What happened to his brother?" Tony asked curiously.

Miguel stared at him for a while and blew out the smoke before he extinguished the cigarette on the table. "His older brother Yassen, a known and successful contract killer, died about one and a half years ago by a car bomb. However, Andrei called me to him and showed me the agent. He said we needed information out of him and I tried my best of luck."

While he was talking, images from Tony's most recent past flashed back into his memory. Yassen died of a car bomb. Caroline's boyfriend Yassen died from a car bomb. She had told him and to be honest, he has really left track of the two sisters which made him worry a bit right now. When Andrei, Yassen's brother, really was the big wheel in the underground here, at least one of the sisters couldn't be far away.

"Did you have success?" Gibbs asked.

"No," the informant shook his head. "He wouldn't talk. So Andrei called someone, he said he'd trust her most."

"Her?" one of the Israeli agents asked.

"Yeah, it was a woman, I bet, around thirty years old. She had made him talk within five minutes."

"What do you know about her?" Tony asked already expecting the worst.

"Nothing. But Andrei said that she was the mother of his brother's daughter. She made the agent talk, then she walked away…and she asked where this agent came from. But her poker face didn't show anything. Wow, she was really hot."

Tony turned around and tried to think. Was it really Caroline? Was she back, and why has she tortured an NCIS agent? This wouldn't make sense…although, if she only helped Andrei, it would. She never cared who she killed, only that she did something bad.

"Tony?" Gibbs asked, noticing that his Agent might know something. Tony turned back to Miguel.

"This woman, was she tall? Very slender, muscular, dark skin, brown hair and blue eyes?"

The informant nodded surprised. "Yeah, the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

"Caroline?" McGee asked surprised and looked at Gibbs and Tony.

But Tony was concentrated on the reaction of the Israeli agents. They seemed to know something as well but Tony thought it was better if he didn't say anything. The situation was already bad enough.

"Do you know how we can contact Andrei or that woman?" Gibbs asked.

Miguel just laughed. "Andrei is one of the most powerful men down here. I wouldn't try to contact him, even if I were CIA or whoever. And for Caroline…she was gone as fast as she has appeared."

"Thank you, Miguel," the Mexican officer said and pulled out his purse to count the money for his informant.

Gibbs nodded at his agents and they left the interrogation room. They searched a more silent corner before he started to talk: "Tony, have you heard from Caroline lately?"

"No. I didn't know that she is in Mexico."

"Can you contact here somehow?"

"I have her cell phone number but I guess she's changed it already."

"Try!"

Tony nodded and had a look around. The Israeli agents were far enough away so he pulled out his cell and searched his contacts. She had given him his number for their first date, he still remembered how beautiful and nice she had been – and how she had eventually tried to kill him. The cell phone rang a few times until finally a familiar voice answered: "Tony?"

"Caroline," he said relieved and hardly started to smile. He side-looked on his boss and McGeek, before he walked down the corridor. "Are you in Mexico?" he asked concerned.

"What do you know?" she asked directly.

"Listen, Caroline. This is not the time for–"

"Just tell me what you know, please," she said and although it was an order, she didn't sound harsh but still like the nice woman that Tony had invited to dinner over a year ago.

"NCIS Agent Jake Ryan has been abducted by your deceased boyfriend's brother Andrei for blackmailing purposes. He asked you to torture him and Ryan told you everything you wanted to know, right?"

"Yes. What do you know about Ryan?"

"He's a federal agent and has been working in Washington for a few months. Why?"

"Just a question. What do you want from me now? You've got your case solved."

"Do you have any idea why suddenly two Mossad agents have appeared here?"

There was a long silence before Caroline answered: "I've noticed them as well. They've been following you for some time."

"Yeah – wait, how do you know that they followed me? Have you followed me as well?"

"I knew it would only be a matter of time until you turned up here, and for the Mossad agents as well."

"What does this case have to do with Mossad?"

"I'll tell you later. Right now, you should only know that you should watch yourself. Andrei abducted Jake Ryan to torture him for information and blackmail the American government. I helped him do so. You won't get Andrei and you won't get me. So you can close the file and return to Mexico. By the way, greet your wife, Tony, will you?"

Tony waited for a moment but the decided that it was hopeless. "Good-bye, Caroline, will I hear from you again?"

"For sure you will," she answered and he could already hear her grin.

The connection was lost and he returned to the other two agents.

"What did she say?" McGee asked.

"That we should watch out. Andrei had abducted Jake Ryan to blackmail the government."

"Why him? And why are there those Mossad men?" the boss wanted to know.

"I don't know. She didn't give me an answer for that but she made it sound like if we're about to find out."


	4. Encounter & Abduction

Chapter 4

Even more puzzled than before, the three agents returned to the city for lunch. They ate quietly while Gibbs tried to contact Fornell who might have access to more information.

"All that Fornell could tell was that Andrei Selivanov is a big wheel in Mexican drug traffic. They also organize import and export to the United States. But he told me about a contact who we're going to meet this night."

With that information, the team left their hotel at ten o'clock in the evening and without police badges but with guns, they headed toward the more dangerous zones of Mexico City.

Hardly any street lamps were working and Tony has barely felt that uncomfortable ever before. He felt how people were moving in the shadows, but couldn't see them. He forced himself to follow his boss without looking around. Finally, they arrived at an abandoned warehouse. Windows were broken, doors were missing and empty cigarette packages and broken beer bottles were covering the floor.

There were boxes at the walls, bags of white and brown stuff lying around. Tony spotted a small light at the end of a corridor and recognized a man sitting there, Mexican, probably thirty or forty years old.

"Ya the cops?" he asked in broken English.

Gibbs nodded. "We want to know something about Andrei. Where he is, what information he received from Special Agent Ryan," the boss wanted to know.

The guy was staring at him for a while, but suddenly, his eyes got all glassy.

Tony raised and eyebrow before he cringed, hearing suddenly a low and rough voice behind him. "Why don't you ask me personally?"

The informant nearly fell down from the box he was sitting on and all three agents were turning around at once, pulling their guns. But suddenly, someone switched on the lights and after a few seconds in which Tony got used to the brightness, he recognized at least ten men armed with loaded rifles in front of them and to be honest, they didn't seem happy at all.

"Tie the agents," Andrei Selivanov ordered in Spanish with Russian accent and didn't hesitate pulling out his own gun and shooting the traitor directly in the head without even blinking.

"We should kill them," one of the men suggested.

"I said: Tie them up. I want to torture them first, we don't get NCIS special agents all day," he repeated angrily and watched silently how Gibbs, McGee and Tony were disarmed, pushed on the floor and tied with a rope each at hands and legs so that they couldn't move anymore.

"Listen…you have already killed one Agent. When you kill three more, you'll make it even worse. You might have bribed the whole city here, but believe me, you can't stop CIA from interfering into this!" Gibbs tried to say.

Andrei listened to all this and nodded. "Well…I know that it might sound surprising to a typical American hero and ex-soldier, but I'm not afraid of the States' Intelligence." He turned to his men and spoke something in very fast Spanish. Some of them went away and now there were only four left, watching the agents. "Now, Special Agents of NCIS of DC, what shall I do to you?" he asked and wanted to add something when suddenly all lights went out.

Tony couldn't see anything, but he heard gun shots. Feet were moving and Andrei was obviously firing back. He noticed screams of some men and a body dumping on the floor right in front of him.

The footsteps were coming closer and he heard a whisper which he couldn't understand at all. All of sudden, he felt hands grabbing him, dragging him over the floor.

"Hey!" he screamed but someone was cutting open the rope at his legs but at the same moment, he felt the muzzle of a gun pressed against his back. "Walk," someone hissed and pushed him forward so that he nearly stumbled.

He could barely see anything but just heard the shouts of McGee and Gibbs who had no idea what was going on. "Gibbs! McGee," Tony yelled but as soon as he stepped out into the warm air of the night, a wet tissue was pressed on his mouth and he felt how his brain became all misty and stopped working. Silently, Agent DiNozzo fell down to the ground and didn't notice anymore the two men putting him into the rear trunk of a car.

Neither did he notice that Gibbs and McGee were still sitting in that abandoned warehouse, not able to get any help. Nor did he notice the last shadow disappearing when one of the men fired gun shots at the shillouette of the beautiful Katarina running away to report her sister what she has just witnessed and that she couldn't help Tony as more men were approaching, helping the two persons who were closing the trunk and driving away, out of the city.

* * *

"Boss?" McGee asked after a while.

"I can't cut myself free," Gibbs answered.

"With what?"

"The knife in my pocket. Can you see anything?"

"No," McGee said, all lights were off. "Who was that?"

"No idea," the boss answered and added, "can you stand up?"

McGee tried to and finally made it up. He tried to jump forward but only after one meter he was stumbling over something soft and fell down on the hard floor.

"Everything okay?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, I just fell over a body."

Suddenly, the lights went on again and some men in police uniforms were entering the warehouse. "Over here!" Gibbs screamed and the men starting untying them. Gibbs shortly explained their situation and already spotted the officer they knew in the crowd of cops.

"I honestly have no idea about what could have happened to your agent," he admitted but then added, "and unfortunately, I have to tell you some other bad news. As far as I have been informed, the Israeli embassy in the United States has been attacked. All peace treaties are not valid anymore and Mexico has declared to be neutral after a request of the American army. I'm sorry that I have to accompany you two to the border in the North and that Tony DiNozzo will be sent back again when we find him. But you can't stay any longer in this country."

* * *

While Katarina was walking quickly back, she noticed that someone was watching her. She didn't dare to turn around but used a broken street mirror to get a better look on her follower. She walked left and right immediately and ended up in a very small way, on both sides of her high buildings that seemed to collapse every second.

She felt so small but funnily the shillouette was still behind her and now he didn't care if he was being seen by her or not. Her steps grew faster and she wanted to get out of here but when she turned around the corner, she nearly ran into a very tall and muscular man.

He was staring down at her with his huge and angry brown eyes, waiting slowly until the man behind her grabbed Katarina's shoulder so that she couldn't try to run away.

"Who are you?" the man in front of her asked.

"Who are you?" she answered rebellious.

The man just laughed. "What were you doing at the warehouse? As far as I am informed, Andrei doesn't employ women. He despises them."

"Not me."

"Why not?"

Katarina remained silent and the guy behind her pushed her against the wall. "Why do you want to know, you fucking assholes?" she moaned when he searched her.

"This is a nice gun," he commented when he found something under her jacket. "Far too nice for a pretty girl like you. Who are you? Were you going to meet Andrei?"

"N-no," she coughed when the second man started to hit her and she stumbled down on the ground.

"Why were you there?"

"Who the fuck are you?" she asked and touched her lips, she rubbed the blood between her fingers.

"Shouldn't we just kill her?" her shadow suggested.

"No. When she was there for Andrei, she might have friends. Andrei never meets women. Why you?" obviously the boss of them asked.

"My sister fucked his brother, satisfied?" Katarina said and stood up, but was pushed back on the wall immediately.

"That's funny. But Andrei's dead, his brother's dead, why shouldn't we start with you now?" the first guy asked.

Without hesitation, Katarina spitted at him and freed herself in the same moment in which she also grabbed back her gun. "You're Israeli," she suddenly said. The accent has sounded so familiar.

The man stared at her as if they'd never heard a woman talking.

"You're here because the Agent was your mole inside NCIS," she began to understand. "What did you do to Agent DiNozzo?" she asked furiously. Why kidnap him? That hasn't been their original plan, as far as she thought. The men looked at each other and nodded.

Suddenly, the younger one grabbed into his jacket but before he could point his gun at the woman, she shot him right into the chest. He stumbled backward and fell to the ground. Katarina kicked the gun off his feet and pointed hers at his boss so that he wouldn't try the same. The man on the floor curled around and spitted blood, moaning silently.

"Why have you kidnapped DiNozzo?" she asked in anger.

"This isn't your business," the older man answered, unaffected by the pain his colleague was suffering.

Katarina sighed and kicked hard into the man's shot wound. I have to wash my shoes again, she thought while the blood was flowing out faster of the wound.

"Fuck. It wasn't planned. But he killed our director," the man screamed in pain. He coughed blood on the pavement and Katarina redirected her gun toward him and shot him into his head. Blood and a little piece of brain were flowing out.

She turned back to the other man. "Where have you brought Agent DiNozzo?"

"What does it interest you? What is your affiliation toward him? You're a criminal!"

"I–" she started but suddenly heard a noise behind her. She turned around just in time to recognize persons leaving the shadows and suddenly, she felt warmth.

She stumbled backward but got hold again. She looked down at her body and touched her belly. But instead of feeling her jacket, she felt something sharp and metallic and something very hot warming her skin.

_"What about him?" she heard one of the man ask._

She dropped her gun and bent forward.

_"Leave him here. He's dead," the boss said and walked over to the others._

She kneed down and had the urge to vomit but she only spitted blood on the man she has just killed.

_"What about her?" "She'll die."_

The voices were becoming lower and seemed to be far away. Her vision got blurry, she hardly recognized the light of some street lamps. When she opened her eyes, the men were gone and she was grabbing hold on the corpse in front of her.

She vomited a flush of blood on him and tore out the knife off her stomach. Knowing that the blood loss already was immense, she got rid of her jacket and pressed it against the wound. Stumbling, she got up and tried to reach the wall.

She pulled out her cell while trying to stay awake. She dialed a number and her eye sight went black again and again.

The phone rang and rang. Suddenly, there was a "Yes?"


	5. Puzzle

Chapter 5

Gibbs hasn't even set foot on American soil again but he was already shouting curses on Mexican Police and the CIA agents who 'welcomed' them on the other side. McGee said no word during the whole flight to Washington DC. They went to NCIS headquarters immediately where CIRay already waited for them.

"Does Ziva know that you're here?" McGee asked surprised to see him.

"No. But Ziva was brought into CIA HQ for questioning," he explained. "Which brings me to why I'm here. You have personal affiliations with this case and the abduction of Agent DiNozzo is from now on only a matter of CIA and Mossad and our governments."

Gibbs wanted to say something, but a glance to Vance made him silent again. Ray nodded and left the office. Gibbs shook his head. This wasn't going to work out. Last time Ziva had been abducted to Israel and now Tony.

Will the two never have the chance to live a real marriage? Did he have the chance to do so? What is a 'real marriage' after all?

* * *

'The situation was becoming worse.'

This was what they all talked about but McGee was sure that nobody really understood what it meant. He has been dragged from one interrogation room into another, endured hours of questioning by CIA and FBI and finally also by director Vance.

Mexico has closed the borders and even the commuters couldn't travel anymore. It was fascinating how much police could be present along the frontier and the river considering how many illegal immigrants managed to enter every year. But right now, not even a fly could pass. Mexico feared a confrontation with Israel as well and funnily, Israel got support from all enemies of the United States who have been a threat for long.

North Korea, having quit the ceasefire treaty and arming their nuclear weapons seemed to be ready for what they have planned for long. It was all over the news that rivals and civil wars in the Gaza strip have suddenly become less and that terroristic attacks in Asia were also disappearing, showing how some invisible force was preparing for something bigger.

It was unbelievable what minor actions could trigger such consequences but it was clear, at least for the secret services, that the murder of director David and certain other disputes were just a pretense to arm their military and gather as many US-enemies as possible around them.

They were a threat to the smaller countries, a big economic and a big military power. But all it needed now was reaching the end of the powder fuse. And this could be reached with one simple thing that was always needed to start something and that has appeared throughout history as the actual reason for a war breaking out: a lie.

It was an early morning. McGee has just phoned Ziva and she seemed to be cared for. She and her baby were brought to a safe house in Canada. They haven't heard yet anything about DiNozzo's disappearance but they were quite sure that he still lived and counted on at least an official execution by Mossad.

But Israel has denied any actions in Mexico yet and so the phone wires between the two countries were just becoming hotter. McGee put down the phone and switched on ZNN, what he usually did now-a-days, as every ten minutes there was something new and even if there was spotted a bag of rice falling down in Israel, probably been kicked by an American.

"Something new?" Gibbs asked when he entered the office and sat down at his desk.

The agent shook his head and wondered, how many time has passed since he has last time seen Gibbs without a coffee in his hand.

"Turn it louder," the boss asked when suddenly 'Quest means business' was interrupted for news.

"It is just reported that something must have happened in the higher councils. After all we've known, the phone connection to Israel and states nearby has just been lost. Israeli TV channels can't be accessed anymore and there is an official speech now oncoming in the Israeli news channel. It is now live with subtitles," the news speaker said and the image switched to a man in a suit and Hebrew signs were running through the picture.

He was talking something that neither McGee nor Gibbs understood and so they kept reading the subtitles which appeared as soon as translation was possible. "After the sudden phone connection to the US American State was lost during a video conference between the two heads of government, we have been informed about an explosion spotted in Tel Aviv."

There was a small scene of an amateur video showing an obviously governmental building in the capital which suddenly burst into flames and debris started to fall on the streets.

The video rocked and finally the news speaker was back: "This was a gas explosion in the court of Tel Aviv. Only ten minutes after police and fire fighters have arrived, they declared officially that this was no accident. Furthermore, police explained that they have arrested Jack Allen, an American ex-soldier who has worked for the Explosion Ordnance Disposal, also in the Mid-East.

He claimed working for Intelligence service but before he could be questioned, he committed suicide in one of the police department's cells. Now we have to face the truth: Have the Americans really planned the attack on the National Court in Tel Aviv? What consequence do we have to suffer when we don't protect ourselves from the Americans?"

The image switched back to a shocked ZNN news speaker.

Gibbs looked at McGee. "I've heard Fornell talking about Commander Jack Allen, he was at the Naval EOD but he would have never planted bombs, not even if the government told him so," the boss explained.

"You mean this is a lie?"

Gibbs didn't answer but muttered something about 'more coffee' and walked away, pulling already out his cell phone. McGee slowly stumbled to his chair and sat down in front of his desk. What about Tony? If hell was breaking out, he'd play the first official execution in a new era of war between the two nations.

It all seemed so unreal…so impossible. Have they really gotten back to the old times of disputes and wars? Couldn't they feel safe anymore, haven't they developed further?

* * *

Tony awoke and sat straight up. Where was he? He looked around but didn't see anything. He just heard a noise, it sounded like a machine working. The room slightly rocked and he figured out that he must be moving.

Probably a ship or a plane. It was too dark but when he tried to touch his environment, he noticed that his hands were tied to his back.

It was cold and there was stuff lying around that he felt with his feet and body. It seemed like boxes and he himself was lying on probably a blanket. The room rocked again and now he was sure that he was on a plane.

But where was he flying? And what was he doing here? The last thing he remembered was being put in a rear trunk of a car and an endless drive, probably out of Mexico City. Then, they have injected him something that made him feel very tired.

He must have been unconscious and now they were flying him out of Mexico. But where and who was 'they'? He has heard some muttering and following his gut instinct he'd say they were talking something Asian, probably Arabic or…Hebrew.

Could the appearance of the Mossad agents have anything to do with this?

* * *

"I still have friends in Mexico."

"Come to the point, Tobias," Gibbs demanded.

The FBI agent looked around and then bent closer to the two NCIS agents. "They told me they've found a body of a Mossad agent close to the kidnapping point of DiNozzo. He was shot. There was also a lot of blood there which didn't belong to the body."

"Whoever killed the Mossad agent was injured, probably by other agents. Did they abduct Tony?"

"Possible."

"Have you matched the unknown blood?"

"Yes…you know, it was a lot of blood but they haven't found a body yet. It is very possible that the killer of the agent didn't survive."

"Who?"

"The blood matched to Katarina Montebello," Fornell said with an expression in his face that showed how surprised he had been about this as well.

"Katarina?" McGee asked.

Fornell nodded. "Did you know that she was in Mexico?"

Gibbs and McGee looked at each which made Fornell sigh. "God, you have to tell me what you know. Mexican police is after them now for murder and they said something about that they've found Caroline's blood in the warehouse where your Agent has been killed."

"She tortured him," McGee explained.

"What else do you know about their appearance in Mexico?" the FBI agent asked.

After hesitation, Gibbs answered: "Andrei is the brother of Yassen Selivanov. Yassen is the father of Caroline's first daughter."

"I know that she has a second daughter. Who's she from?"

"I don't know. But when we heard that Caroline tortured Special Agent Ryan, Tony called her and she told us to watch out."

"She warned you?"

"Yes."

"That makes her look like she knew about the planned abduction, but the fact that her sister got stabbed by an Israeli agent proofs the contrary."

"Perhaps she knew that Mossad was in Mexico DC and already thought that they might abduct Tony when they recognize him as the murderer of director David."

"Yes, but the problem is still: Mossad didn't come to Mexico for Tony. It was a coincidence that he has been abducted."

"Are you sure?" Gibbs asked surprised.

"Yes. A little bird told FBI."

"What kind of bird?"

"Someone anonymous. We have no idea who…but the phone call was traced back to Mexico City. About an hour after Ryan's body was found…I heard the phone call, it might have been one of the Montebello sisters!" the agent said.

Gibbs sighed. This story was becoming greater with every new piece of the puzzle they found. "Okay, so Caroline knew that when Agent Ryan died, both NCIS and Mossad were sent to Mexico. When they met, the Israeli agents would recognize Tony and plan something. But why did Mossad appear at all?" Gibbs asked.

"I have absolutely no idea," the FBI man answered and shook his head.

**Please comment.**


	6. The lab

**A very short chapter, therefore I'm currently working on the next, longer chapter.**

Chapter 6

It has been a rough day for special agent McGee. But when he arrived at his home, he could finally breathe again. But then he remembered what Tony must endure right now. Was he still alive? And if, what was he doing right now? Rotting in a stinking cell somewhere in Israel, being tortured? And why did he always think about the worst?

He closed his eyes and thought about what they have figured out today. Caroline and Katarina were in Mexico. They knew that and why Mossad would appear. Katarina probably tried to help Tony but she got stabbed and maybe even died. They both had best connections and if they wanted, they could perhaps figure out where Tony was brought to. But for that, he needed to contact them.

He felt a cold chill running down his back. Contact them. How did he get this idea? They wouldn't rescue Tony on their own, he was just a Special Agent, a cop and they were criminals. Why should they do anything? But when he asked them, they had always helped him. They found him nice. That made him chuckle. Girls like them falling for Tony? They were cruel killers but after all, Ziva has married Tony as well.

They just needed a justification for acting as they did. They never acted on their own: They needed to be asked to do a rescue mission, they needed to be ask to help Tony flee from CIA and Mossad a few months ago and they had also needed to be asked to work for Scorpia.

They could have leaded the organization but they rather stayed in the background. What had Tony told him? Katarina had nearly married an Italian Mafia boss, they could have taken it over but no, his brothers took over and in the meanwhile, they've all died.

French and Italian police were doing more and more progress but the sisters stayed far away in America.

McGee stood up. It was the first step for acting but right now, he felt like he couldn't walk forward anymore. What should he do? Tony has acted on his own and consulted the sisters and he would have nearly been fired if it hadn't worked out so glad for him. But when he asked the sisters for help and even tried to rescue Tony, wouldn't he become a criminal as well?

He had never been as lucky as Tony and it could also heat up the tensions between the two countries. But he had to do something and so he grabbed his jacket from the cupboard and ran down the stairs again.

He had no idea how to contact the sisters but when Tony had been abducted, one of the Mossad agents had thrown away his cell so that it couldn't be tracked down. So all he needed was the cell and Caroline's number saved in it.

He drove back to NCIS and hoped that no CIA agents still followed him. He parked at the back entrance and also hoped that nobody would check the cameras of the Navy yard. Then he remembered that he could just delete the videos so that not even Abby would be able to restore them. He noted that in his mind when he entered the building through the autopsy.

He climbed up the stairs to the forensics lab where Abby has stored Tony's cell which she had received from the Mexican police. He was surprised when he saw that the light was still on and he considered returning home and giving up his dangerous plan. But then he entered the lab and noticed that it was just Abby who has fallen asleep in her office.

Carefully he searched the evidence box and finally found the cell phone. He didn't know if he should just steal the cell or only write down Caroline's number. He decided for the latter and activated the cell. It made the welcome-sound and he looked around in panic but was relieved when Abby continued sleeping. He searched Tony's contacts quickly and finally found "CM".

It was clear that it had to be Caroline Montebello because he would never store the number of a hit man just under her name and especially not since he was married to Ziva. He wrote down the number and shut off the cell again, putting it back into the evidence box. He cursed himself for not having put on gloves before but he doubted that anybody would look for fingerprints and after all, he was a colleague of Tony and of course could his fingerprints be found on it.

Carefully not to make any noise, he walked out of the office but suddenly was blinded by the bright light turned on. He turned around and stared at Abby who has woken up. "What are you doing here, McGee?" she asked surprised but also suspiciously.

"N-nothing," he answered but knew that she wasn't going to believe him.

"Come on, nobody's here at eleven pm."

"I was looking for Tony's cell," he admitted sighing.

"Why?"

"I…searched Caroline's cell phone number and hoped that she could help me finding out where Tony is…I know it sounds stupid."

"You want to ask a wanted contract killer to find Tony? Why should she help you and why should she know at all where he is?"

"I don't know, Abby, but I do know that it was a stupid idea. But Katarina has been watching Tony during the abduction."

"And she's probably dead now!"

"But we have to try everything. We shouldn't repeat the same thing that happened to Ziva…"

Abby hesitated but then answered: "When you do exactly what Tony did, then it will be a déjà vu. The same things will happen and perhaps you won't be as lucky as Tony was and die in the attempt. Consider the actual political situation!"

McGee didn't answer. He hadn't thought, that was clear. "But what else should I do? Sit here and wait until his body is returned?"

Abby didn't know an answer either. "Call her," she finally said. "But I won't be any part of it. And as soon as Gibbs asks me anything, I'll tell him the truth."

"Thanks, Abby," McGee said and surprisingly hugged Abby, although this was usually done the other way round.

She smiled when he left the lab, hoping that he wouldn't do anything stupid and not go with the sisters to any suicide mission to rescue Tony.

**Although it's quite short and nothing happened, please write a review.**


	7. Hospital

Chapter 7

"How are you?"

"Better than ever before," Katarina responded ironically and tried to sit up but her sister pressed her back on the bed.

"You should relax for a while," Caroline said and sat down at the edge of the bed. "What happened?" she asked.

"I watched Tony being abducted. They were Mossad agents, Caro!"

"What then?"

"I wanted to tell you but they've followed me. I had to kill one but there came more. I…got stabbed and called you…where am I?" she wanted to know and looked around. It was clearly a hospital, the walls must have been white decades ago, the door couldn't be closed anymore but at least there was only her bed in the tiny room.

"I brought you to the nearest hospital. You've been stabbed but they've missed the most important organs only closely. You really had luck."

"God," Katarina cursed and closed her eyes.

"It still hurts?" Caroline asked.

"What do you think? What about Tony?"

"Our friend in FBI told me that he's really been abducted, now they also suspect Mossad. I bet the Mossad agents came there for Agent Ryan, but then recognized Tony as the murderer of director David and changed their plan."

"What do you think they're up to now?" the younger sister asked and removed the bed cover to have a look at the bandage around her waist and upper body.

"I absolutely have no idea and I think we've run out of friends," Caroline answered.

"You're worried," Katarina stated and pulled back the bed cover. "What is it between you and Tony?"

"What do you mean?" the older sister laughed. "He's a married, a federal agent and I had the mission to kill him…twice."

"And you never did. How often have you saved his life?" she asked, now concerned about her sister.

"Listen, I can differentiate between work and private life–"

"No, you can't, Caroline. What about Yassen? You brought your daughter and yourself into danger just because you went with him on your missions. You loved Yassen but you also supported his work!"

"And what about you and Edoardo?"

"I don't have a child from him," Katarina hissed and her sister was unable to respond to that. She sighed deeply, but the younger sibling added: "And what about Carey? Was this again keeping private life apart from work? Do you now have two daughters who have to grow up without fathers just because you always fall for hit men?"

"You forget Edoardo and Federico…"

"I didn't become pregnant from them!"

"Is this what it is about? That I tried to build a family with Yassen and that you felt excluded?"

"This is not the point. I had Edoardo."

"You met him a year later…"

"Where's the point?" Katarina hissed.

They didn't get loud but their voices got meaner than Tony would have ever imagined. They continued staring at each other, none of them dared to say a word. Finally, the silence was broken by Caroline's ringing cell.

"Who's that?" Katarina asked suspiciously when she looked at the display.

"Unknown, I better take it. And you calm down!" The older one stood up and left the room. She walked down the corridor before she answered. "Hello?"

"Caroline?"

"Who's there?"

"It's…Tim McGee, from NCIS…I-"

"You work with Tony, what's the matter?"

"I…I wanted to ask if you know anything about Tony? What has happened to him? What happened to Katarina, was she there?"

"She's fine," Caroline answered silently and added, "I don't know where Tony is. I just know that he's been abducted by Mossad agents. They were probably working on their own when they recognized Tony and decided to kidnap him. But I am sure that they'll get the support from their government."

"Yes, I've heard about the new director replacing Eli David."

"Orli Elbaz _(who is going to be played by Star Trek-actor Marina Sirtis)_ I've heard from her as well. But I doubt that she'll take the risk of hiding Tony in one of the Mossad official buildings. The US is as close as never to a war with both Israel and North Korea and an abducted federal agent would heat the situation unnecessarily up."

"What do you think where he is?... I know you have nothing to do with us, NCIS, me or Tony. But you're only hope…and you've saved Tony's life already a dozen of times before…"

"Don't let that Ziva hear…Listen, I've run out of friends in terroristic groups in Israel…but I might try a few phone calls. I cannot promise you anything, but I have someone in my mind. I take along the phone from which you call is yours…?"

"Unfortunately I was so stupid."

"Good. I'll call you back as soon as I've found something out concerning the whereabouts of Tony, okay? Just don't tell anyone."

"Okay, and thank you very much!"

The phone call was finished and Caroline's phone glided back into her pocket. She shook her head. Her sister would hit the roof if she came back and told her about the conversation. But she returned to the room and explained what McGee had wanted.

"And you wanna help him?" Katarina said unbelieving.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Do you love Tony?"

"He's married."

"This wasn't an answer to my question."

"I've had the contract to kill him twice and if I wasn't called back the first time, I would have killed him without hesitation."

"And if now someone told you to kill him?"

Caroline tried not to look into her sister's eyes.

"What do you propose?" Katarina asked, now calmed down again.

"Do you still have contact to Ling?" Caroline asked carefully.

Katarina thought for a moment but then nodded. "Of course. And she's still working for Interpol."

"Where's she currently?"

"You're not gonna like it," Katarina smiled, "Washington."

* * *

"Damn it, Gibbs!"

Gibbs looked up from his desk. It was the next morning and there were no new cases so he and McGee were occupied with the unsolved cases while CIA and FBI men were constantly running around in the building. Now, agent Fornell has just arrived, obviously with some bad news.

"What is it, Tobias?" Gibbs asked but Fornell already handed a USB-Stick to McGee who put it into the computer. The data appeared on the screen and McGee zoomed in.

"Special Agent Jake Ryan," he read out loud from the driver's license and the Navy card. Fornell nodded and told him to continue.

A new identity card and passport appeared on the screen as well as the first page of a file, most of it was censored with black stripes. "Amir Ishay," Fornell explained and they looked at a photo of the person they knew under the name Jake Ryan.

"He's a Mossad agent, he is involved in several acts against Iran, Iraq and Mexico. He came into the United States about a year ago, then started working undercover at NCIS. It was a mistake by Homeland Security and CIA that he wasn't discovered. And the background checks of NCIS should have been better as well."

"Damn it, he was working with us and we didn't notice anything," McGee muttered unbelieving.

"He got abducted due to blackmailing reasons," Gibbs figured out, "that means, Andrei kidnapped him hoping to get information about both the US and Israel to sell it to both countries again. When the body was found, of course Mossad appeared to find out if their agent was discovered and how much Andrei knew. When they found out that he knew too much, he killed him and his men. The agents there recognized Tony as the murderer of Eli and so they abducted him."

"I've listened to a video conference between my boss, Vance and the new Mossad director Orli Elbaz. She denies any knowledge about the abduction but it was very clear that she knew everything about it although she pronounced that Tony is on Israeli soil."

"Then they abducted him to another country," McGee suggested.

"Too dangerous. Israel has enough enemies in its close environment," Fornell said with doubt.

"And what about a neutral country, a government that isn't in conflict with Israel? And they probably flew under the radar, meaning that the government of the other country has no idea that Tony is being hid there."

"Sounds plausible to me," Gibbs agreed.

Fornell nodded as well, "Tony is brought to a safe place abroad and even if American soldiers storm Israel or the official buildings there, they won't find him. And as long as he's not there, Director Elbaz can still say that she had no idea and that her agents were acting on their own. Oh my god…I need to call some people," Fornell said.

He walked away and McGee wanted to ask Gibbs what to do now when suddenly his cell rang. First of all, he thought it could be Caroline again and reminded himself to stay calm. He looked at the display and noticed that "unknown" was calling.

Perhaps it was Katarina because he has already stored Caroline's number or they didn't want to be recognized. "I'm sorry, boss, gotta take this," he excused himself and walked out of the listening range. He made sure that he was alone in that corridor and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Special Agent McGee?" a female voice asked.

"Yes, who's there?" he wanted to know. He was surprised that Caroline didn't call herself, he has always thought that they'd rarely trusted anybody.

"My name is Cui Dai Ling, I am a friend of the sisters. I have managed to locate Tony DiNozzo, the abducted NCIS-Agent you are searching, right?"

"Yes, a colleague and friend of mine."

"Agent DiNozzo has been seen in Italy," the woman explained.

There was silence for a long while, before McGee was able to speak again: "Italy?"

"Yes. I've watched the abduction via satellite. There're several international satellites all over the biggest cities of North America. There's only one over Mexico City but I could locate Tony. With several other surveillance footage I was able to reconstruct the process of DiNozzo's kidnapping. It wasn't difficult once I had the car on the screen."

"Wow…but how did you get the satellite pictures?"

"Well, Katarina always knew how to get the right contacts. I work for Interpol, currently positioned in DC. I will be outside the back door of the Navy Yard in exactly twenty minutes. Look out for the light blue BMW. I'll bring you to the airport…if you're willing to risk that for your friend. Everything you need is arranged."

McGee was speechless again. The twins have really organized everything already? They had contacts that reached up to Interpol? Well, on the other hand they must really meet a lot of people when travelling around and who would forget such beauties?

"I'll be there," he promised and the phone call was immediately ended.

McGee walked back to the office. He sat down at his desk and thought about the possibilities he had. Going with this Cui Dai whatever and risk not only being immediately fired from NCIS but also making the political situation worse or die. But on the other hand, they'd for sure kill Tony as demonstration of their powers and what happened if someone killed the Mossad director.

And that the rescue of Ziva has succeeded without deeper consequences didn't mean anything for him. The risks were new, the situation even worse. But Tony has risked everything for Ziva because he had loved her and he also was the closest friend that Tony ever had. They knew each other already better than anybody else. It was his duty to help his friend.

"Everything okay?" Gibbs suddenly asked. McGee looked up and noticed how hot it felt. He was definitely sweating.

"Y-yes," he said and looked at his watch. He better prepared his computer.

He didn't want anybody to enter his hard drive when he was gone. He knew that as soon as he has disappeared, they were also going to look for him and deny any mission. He would be on his own, with no governmental support and every crime he was going to commit would be persecuted.

"Tim!" Gibbs hissed, knowing that something was wrong with the probie. McGee activated a self-triggering virus. As soon as someone was going to destabilize the computer logs, it would be activated and by each try, it would split itself. Only his own combination could stop it and recalibrate the whole matrix. He stood up and slowly walked toward his boss.

"I have found a way to help Tony. I don't know if I will succeed," he whispered carefully and cursed himself. Why was he doing that?

"What?" Gibbs asked but then sighed and nodded. "When you need any help…"

But he shook his head. "It's safer when I am on my own. I don't want to drag anybody into this, Abby knows as well…"

"The Montebello sisters?"

"Yes, they helped me."

"Where is Tony?"

McGee wasn't sure if he should tell but finally decided to do so. Gibbs wished him luck and with McGee's help they deactivated the cameras on the Navy Yard for ten minutes. It would look like a malfunctioning but it made sure that nobody knew that McGee was disappearing like this.

He trembled when he took the elevators down. He greeted the entry guards when he passed them. The air felt thick although he was already outside. Now, Tony's life depended on his decisions.

**Please review.**


	8. Tunnel

Chapter 8

When he stepped into the light blue car, Cui Dai Ling wasted no time and started driving to the airport. "Hey, I'm Cui Dai Ling," she answered with a smile. McGee eyeballed the Asian woman. She was beautiful, slender, flawless face with black eyes and long, black hair.

"McGee. How did you meet the sisters?" he asked, surprised how they'd know Interpol agents.

"I've met Katarina before my time in Interpol, about three years ago."

Suddenly, her phone rang. They stopped at a red traffic lights so she had a short look at the display.

"Can you please answer that for me? It's important," she asked and handed him the cell when the traffic lights jumped back on green.

"Hello?" McGee asked.

"Who's there?" a man with a deep accent asked.

"I…am McGee, someone Ling knows."

"The NCIS agent?"

"Yes…" McGee answered surprised.

"This line isn't secure. It'll be a matter of time until it's traced back. Tell her that her cover is blown and that the plan has changed. She'll receive orders as soon as possible. Until then, don't pursue as ordered. We have no idea how much the authorities know," the rough voice continued and suddenly, the line was dead.

"What did he say?" Ling asked.

McGee hesitated and had no idea what it all meant. "Something about that the line wasn't safe, your cover is blown and that the plan has changed. You shouldn't pursue as planned but wait for new orders. What the hell does it mean? Cover blown, which plan has changed and which authorities?"

The reaction of Ling didn't look good for him. She cursed suddenly on a foreign language and changed the direction immediately.

"Would you mind explaining?" McGee asked while Ling already looked into the back mirrors to figure out if someone was following them.

"McGee, do me a favor. Open the glove box. There's a tiny little box in the corner and a red light blinking. Tear the box from the wall and tell me if the lights stops blinking."

McGee didn't answer but did as he was told. "No, it's still on," he said. "What is it?"

"It's a tracking device. Every car of an Interpol agent has it. We need to change vehicles."

"Would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?" McGee asked now angrier.

Ling sighed deeply and side-looked at him. "I've not actually been working for Interpol. I'm an agent of Mossad. About three days ago, we had a break of our security systems. Data of agents in foreign countries were stolen but it was not clear which data and if they would be able to decode it. It was only a matter of time until I was being exposed. It seems now that the CIA has found out who I really am."

"But Israel is a member of Interpol?"

"Yes, but I'm actually a Mossad agent who has passed valuable information of all countries to Israel, specialized on governmental secrets of the US, that's why I was stationed in Washington, I was dealing with coordination of different Agencies," she answered.

Suddenly, her phone rang again. "Put it on loud speakers," she ordered and he did so.

"You're on loud speakers," Ling informed.

"Okay. Ling, the CIA knows who you are, they succeeded decoding the information. This line is secure now. They probably located you already and are on the way to kill you. Do you have the last data package?"

"Yes."

"Good. They know you have this valuable piece of information and will try to bring you down whatever it costs. With that package, we have an enormous advantage, you know that. I doubt that CIA won't do everything to kill you. Watch out. Go to the South Airport. Jack is waiting there for you and change your both identity, understood? Then you should be able to leave the States. You will be sent on the first flight to Europe. What about McGee?"

"He needs to get to Italy. I don't know why, Katarina didn't tell me anything."

"Do you trust her?"

"Yes, she's an old friend and when she asks me to do this little favor, then I help her. I owe her that." The line was suddenly broken and Ling looked in the back mirror again. "Fucking bitches," she cursed and McGee saw what she meant.

Three black cars just appeared in the background, looking like suddenly appeared out of the Matrix.

"They found us," Ling answered and turned sharply right at the next corner.

"What kind of information is it you stole?" McGee asked nervously. A dangerous situation he had no control about, he didn't like that thought at all.

"Top secret information about the central defense of Washington and exact explanations of the rocket system over the White House and central important points all over the East Coast."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so pleased losing this information to my enemy either," McGee commented and wondered if Ling knew that she was actually helping someone who wanted to intervene in a current unofficial Mossad mission by rescuing one of their kidnapping victims, a federal agent who was worthy a lot with his knowledge about NCIS.

He tried to get hold somewhere because Ling was even driving more dangerous than Gibbs and that meant something. "Where're you going now?" he asked when he saw that she tried to maintain a direction.

"There's a tunnel half a mile from here. It's smaller and crowded and I might try to get an advantage of that," she explained.

McGee nodded and looked in the mirror. There were still three black cars and the guys in them didn't look very pleased. That was really a lot of effort for such information but regarding the current value of it, the CIA must really try everything.

Finally, they entered the tunnel. It was dark immediately, there were only the lights on the ceiling. There were two lines for each direction but suddenly, McGee noticed that they weren't followed anymore.

Was this going to be a trap? Then he saw that there weren't any more cars from the other side coming, neither more than five cars behind them.

"What's going on?" he asked and showed Ling to look back.

The expression on her face made him worry.

"What does it mean?"

"Ever watched movies?" Ling asked with a trembling voice.

"Fuck!" she screamed when she looked back in front of them. Cars were again coming from the other direction, but they had been granted all four lines.

The traffic lights system must have a malfunction, McGee thought. No one would direct all four lines into one direction when there were still people coming from the opposite one. But then he stopped breathing.

He stopped all his movements. And Ling as well when she had a look around. Behind them, all lines were also open. Cars were already driving through. There was a small turn and they were in the exact position to notice that but neither the ones behind nor the once more than 50 meters in front of them could see.

There were cars driving toward a direct crash and Ling and McGee were exactly in the middle of it. _(Die Hard 4)_

"Ling-" McGee gasped but suddenly, he forgot what he wanted to tell. There was blackness ahead. The lights were going off, from both sides the darkness came closer. It was a well-lit tunnel and hardly anyone was having the car lights on.

"Drive to the side," he ordered and she was already turning the wheel around.

The car came to a stop and there was silence, nothing more than their breath. Suddenly, the noise of crashing metal, the sound of screams and shouts, the light of an explosion and the glass fragments being thrown by a gigantic crash of a benzene truck and a car.

Instinctively, McGee and Ling both ducked down and the impact of the crash was doubled by the next cars driving into the accident place. Broken pieces of cars were flying around and the windows of the blue car were falling silently apart as if a sword of diamond had cut it.

"We need to get out of here," Ling hissed and opened the door.

"What, are you crazy?" McGee shouted but ran after her. In the background he heard people yelling for help and in pain, cars were trying to brake in time, without success.

But Ling ran straight toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

He tried to get after her but she was damned fast. Suddenly, he nearly ran into her when she'd stopped. "What?" he asked, gasping for breath.

"They'll be waiting at the end of the tunnel. We take the emergency staircase," she decided and ran toward the door next to them. But instead of running upward, she decided climbing the stairs deeper into the earth.

"There's a way toward the metro network. I've studied it long enough during my time in Interpol, there's more down here than you think," she answered quickly and jumped onto solid earth again. "Follow me," she said and they walked along the small corridor.

It was really dark and he prayed that he wouldn't lose her. She opened an unlocked door and stepped into a tube tunnel. "What if a train comes?" McGee asked.

"We must be somewhere on the old fifth line. This tunnel isn't used anymore…at least I hope so."

McGee didn't answer but just walked after her. There was no point in denying that the woman knew what she was doing.

**Please review...and try to guess what the reason is why Ling trusts Katarina so blindly... ;)**


	9. Sand

**Please review.**

Chapter 9

They arrived at bright daylight and first, McGee was blinded until his eyes got used to it. He followed Cui Dai Ling down the streets and finally mentioned again: "Where're we going now?"

"There's someone waiting for us at the airport."

"But the airport is more than half a mile away!"

"And the slower we are, the tinier gets the possibility that they haven't sent our pictures for identification to the airport yet," she answered and grabbed his arm.

Their heads low, they walked fast through the crowded city. Most people were running and gasping toward the tunnel accident and sirens of ambulance and police were becoming louder. McGee had never had before the idea how it was to escape from a crime or accident scene but right now he was running against the mass of the curious people and somehow it felt good knowing what happened but not needing to worry about it – for now.

What was the NCIS going to say about this? Or would he die during this 'mission' and he'd never get the chance to be punished? He couldn't believe himself what kind of questions he asked himself.

"There's a bus station," Ling pointed out and had a quick look. Luckily, in big cities there were about all five minutes busses coming and they took the first one in the direction of the airport.

McGee and Ling sat down and stared outside. There definitely was no inner peace but he calmed down while the buildings were rushing by and they entered the area of the airport. "Where will you meet your friend?"

"He'll meet us," she answered shortly.

Since they met, he hasn't seen her smile. "So, how exactly did you get to know Katarina?" McGee wanted to know.

"It's a long story."

"Seems like we've got time as soon as we're on the plane…you said you owed her, what do you mean?"

"I'll tell you as soon as we're _on _the plane," she answered and pressed the 'stop'-button. They got out at Terminal A and he was trying to follow her through the crowd of busy people. Shoulders passed his shoulders and he was bounced from one side to the other. However, he nearly ran into Ling when she suddenly halted.

"What's up?" he asked but she already pressed a passport and ticket into his hand. "That guy doesn't even look like me," he mentioned when checking the picture.

"Nobody ever looked at the pictures," she said and grabbed his arm again. "Were flying directly to Rome so we need to pay attention," she said and had a look around. "It's only a matter of time until the police appears here," she added and they walked on. "Boarding time is in ten minutes. We can't wait right there, so we need to find a more silent corner."

This 'silent corner' they finally found near the restrooms and they sat down next to the windows with a look at the airport. Planes were coming and flying and McGee just hoped that they haven't already plotted to attack one to save the information.

"McGee," she tore him out of his thoughts. She held up a USB-stick. "This is the important data of CIA."

"What am I supposed to do with it?" he asked surprised when she handed it him over.

"In case that we're separated, give that to Katarina. She knows how to pass it on to Mossad. I know that this means helping the enemy for you, but on the other side I'm helping you, okay? I'm counting on you."

"Okay," he finally agreed, after all, a Mossad agent was right now helping a Special Agent of NCIS although their governments were closer to a war than ever. "Now, why do you owe Katarina?" he asked and stored the USB-stick safely in his pocket.

Ling smiled. "Oh, I met her over four years ago. It's a bit complicated though…" Suddenly, she looked away.

McGee wanted to ask what happened but now he saw it as well. There were two Men in black coming their way and they didn't look like nice alien-hunters. "Shit," he cursed but immediately saw that running of would be a dead end.

The agent pulled their guns but suddenly one of them was going down. McGee blinked twice to notice the knife in his chest. "God," he muttered noticing that Ling has thrown it at the agent. She was damn fast.

The other man has slackened his gun and Ling and McGee were ducking to the ground when he shot. McGee escaped and fell to the floor. He got up noticing that he was okay and without thinking he threw himself on the man while more gun shots were falling. He grabbed his hair and banged it several times on the floor until it was covered with sprinkling blood.

Relieved, he sat up again but then looked aside. Ling's shirt was completely red and blood was trickling from her mouth.

"Ling!" he moaned and crawled over to her. "We've got to stop the bleeding!"

"It's okay…take this one," she moaned under pain and handed him a second USB-stick. "It contains the codes for the first one," she explained with a short smile.

McGee couldn't believe it. Of course, a Mossad agent wouldn't give him stolen information without an assurance. "I'll give it Katarina, I promise," he said and pressed his hands on her wound. It was useless. She's been hit several times and her blood loss was too critical.

"Tell…tell Katarina…" she said with toil, she could hardly speak anymore.

"What? What shall I tell her?"

"That…I love her. And I'm sorry, I…should have never…split up with her…" she moaned and finally closed her eyes. Her body was relaxing and McGee was holding a cold corpse in his hands. Shocked, he dropped her and picked up his ticket and passport.

Without looking back, he left the scene and headed over to the restrooms. Quickly, he washed the blood away from his hands and although it was still on his clothes and skin, he left to the terminal.

But nobody seemed to notice in the rush as the plane was already delayed. He entered and searched his seat. He sat down and looked out of the window. As soon as they started to roll, he closed his eyes and tried to figure out what the heck has just happened in the last hour.

* * *

"Where's McGee?" Fornell shouted when he came back from the video conference room.

"I have no idea," Gibbs answered calmly and did not give away what he already knew.

"Jethro, this is important! Our nation's security is on stake!"

"Just because an NCIS disappeared to find a friend?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

"Damn it, so he _is_ searching Tony?"

"Taking along he is, why? What's up?"

"He has been seen with Interpol officer Cui Dai Ling whose real name is Jiao Yang, she's a mercenary working for Mossad and been exposed only one hour ago. She has stolen top secret information about the central defense of Washington, the rocket system over the White House and the most important defense points all over the East Coast.

She has been located and attacked by military special forces agents directly subjected to the Pentagon. During the attack they recognized Agent McGee. They've fled together and seen at the airport. Two agents have been stabbed before she could be taken down. McGee's still on the run!"

Gibbs didn't answer. This didn't sound like McGee at all, he has certainly been dragged into all this. "McGee took a flight to Italy. We have surveillance videos and informed Italian police but we have no jurisdiction over there. I just talked to a friend in CIA, they just explained officially that any actions McGee is going to take, he doesn't do it as a federal agent but as a usual citizen.

Of course, I was reassured, that in case he succeeds, they think about blackmailing Israel with the conditions and circumstances of disappearing and probable death of DiNozzo. If we find out that he was indeed killed or tortured by Mossad agents, we have a justification for anything Israel wants to blame us for."

"You want to use Tony as a justification?"

"I don't, Jethro. The politicians see him as the means to an end, but we both know that DiNozzo is a person…and that he doesn't give up that easily!"

* * *

Tony awoke by the sunlight blinding his eyes. The next thing he noticed was the taste of dust. He took a look around and he saw a desert. Sands, rocks, plants, but there was a wall.

He sat up. There were some old, abandoned buildings. It looked like a former industrial area to him but now plants have grown wildly and the ground has converted into sand and rocks and a half-asphalted road.

"Welcome home, Mr. DiNozzo," a voice said and a man walked around into his view.

He looked up to one of the Mossad agents who have kidnapped him. "Where am I?" he asked confused and spitted the nasty taste of dust on the ground.

"Back to the roots. Welcome in Italy," the agent said and waved his arm around. "You're in one of the suburbs of Rome," he further explained. "Only you, me, and Noam over there," he added and pointed to a guy who leaned smoking at a small white Truck.

The agent turned around. "My name is Itai Moshe and we two are probably the last persons you're ever going to see," he said and kneed down to Tony who noticed – when he tried to kick him – that his arms and legs were both tied together.

Seeing that there really was no point in defending himself, he hung his head down to at least not die from sunburn.

**Please review.**


	10. Plan B

Chapter 10

The first thing McGee saw when he stepped out of the plane was the police waiting at the boarding terminal. He looked to the ground and tried to stay with the crowd of other passengers but both airport security and local police controlled passports and seemed to check it with a photo they had on an iPad. McGee tried to steal silently away but then he stumbled directly into a police officer.

He blinked twice, then looked from his Pad to McGee and back again and suddenly started shouting something in Italian. McGee didn't want to know what, he just started running away. He left the terminal area to the big corridors and tried to evade the people.

He could hardly see where he was running, the only thing he heard were the noises in his back, police officers grunting tourists out of the way and they all stumbled over rucksacks and luggage. McGee finally used the moving stairs while the officers took the normal way and except for turning right to the staircase, the NCIS agent turned left and away from the officers.

He ran about several corners and then opened the door right to him and closed it quickly. He leaned against it and breathed deeply. Police was running by, shouting some warnings. McGee had a look around. It seemed like a storeroom of cleaning powders, at least it smelled like a mixture of all available solutions. He stumbled out of the room again and watched out for security.

There weren't any uniformed men in sight and as fast and unobtrusive as possible, he headed for the exit of the airport. He was finally outside, in the spring-version of Italy, meaning heat and dust all over this city. He decided not to take a taxi downtown but walk because using any vehicles could easier be traced back. So he took a walk and just orientated by the street signs.

He had no idea where he actually was and since Ling was dead, he also didn't know what was actually planned after they arrived here. So he continued his eternal walk to Rome's downtown. It was much more crowded here with tourists and he could better disappear and be anonymous. He had no European money, he couldn't use his credit card and he was wanted by Italian police.

He knew it was time for him to go to the darker world of the city but he was definitely not trained for this. He knew which districts not to enter in Washington by night but how could he get there here? Mafia would be everywhere, this was what they were always told but the only definite thing he knew was that he needed to get away from sightseeing points.

How the hell was he supposed to meet Katarina or Caroline in such a big city where he felt and was completely lost right now?

* * *

"McGee was on the plane but Ling wasn't," Caroline said when she ended her phone call. Both sisters were back in Italy and right now in a small hotel room somewhere outside the city.

"What?" Katarina asked and looked up from her laptop.

"I don't know what happened," the older sister said and shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm gonna search McGee," she answered and stood up.

"God, do you know how many cops are looking for him already?"

"I can watch myself," Katarina said nerved and pushed her sister out of the way.

"Why? Because you still love Ling?" Caroline asked and tried to read anything in her eyes.

"Of course I do," Katarina hissed back and went over to grab the room key.

"And what do you think you'll do when you encounter McGee? We have no idea where Tony is and the only one who could find out was Ling. She had the connections to Mossad."

"Isn't it already bad enough that we used her to act against her nation?"

"Since when are you interested in someone's national feeling, by the way, she was Chinese."

"She grew up in Israel!" Katarina answered back and shut the door behind her, leaving Caroline alone in the room. She looked at the door until she noticed Scarlet beneath her. "Hey, what's up?" she asked smilingly in Italian and kneed down to her daughter.

"Are you having a fight again?" she asked with a worried face.

"Oh, I wouldn't call it a fight, we have different opinions." Caroline fondled her little daughter's dark brown hair. She looked so much like Yassen, her eyes were exactly his.

"Mummy, when will we go home?"

"Oh, soon, my dear. Then we go back to Potenza, okay?" Caroline said but Scarlet still stood waiting in front of her. Caroline sighed and helped her daughter on the bed. "Listen, Scarlet, there is this man I met. And although we should actually not become friends, he is very important for me. And this man has problems right now," she tried to explain the current situation.

"Is he in danger?" she asked directly, showing that she indeed understood what was going on.

Caroline nodded sadly. "A few bad men brought him here to Italy against his wish. Now, his best working colleague came here to help his best friend. But he can't do this alone. So Katarina and I have to help."

Scarlet nodded silently, "I want to know more."

Her mother laughed shortly and hugged her. "How can you help?"

"Do you remember that your aunt had a girlfriend, Cui? She has the means to find out where this man, Tony, is. But right now, only Tony's friend Tim arrived here in Rome and we can't find Cui."

"Is that why Katarina was angry?"

Caroline nodded.

"This Tony…is he Italian?"

"Yes, but he lives in America."

"Do you like him because he's Italian?"

Caroline was speechless by her little's daughter answer. "Listen…" she started but didn't know what to say or how to explain it. "I don't think that you should yet think about such things…you still have all the time in the world," she whispered in Scarlet's ear and hugged her again deeply, thinking that she was the best that could have ever happened to her and how much she actually missed Yassen.

* * *

Not knowing why she was so angry, Katarina left the 'hotel', rather a ruin and walked down the street. She covered her face with a scarf for not aspirating all the dust and smog of this district. This was more her home than always being on the run with her sister in America, she wanted to stay here and live her own life, meet who she wanted to meet and be free from all those concerns about relationship.

She wanted to forget Edoardo but she knew that she could never do so. It already seemed as if they were haunted, she and Edoardo, her sister and Yassen, and now probably Ling. She was so lost in thoughts that she nearly ran into a shadow. When she looked up, her mouth dropped open and so did the one of the man opposite to her.

"McGee?" she asked in surprise.

"Katarina…I was looking for you," McGee answered and tried to remember why he was there.

"What happened to Ling? All I heard is that she wasn't on the plane?" she wanted to know curiously, already expecting the worst.

"We…we were nearly caught by intelligence service agents, she…I'm sorry, Katarina, she…died…"

Katarina quickly looked to the ground, she hesitated but caught herself and asked: "How?"

McGee sighed, still a bit confused about everything that has happened, "she got shot. There was nothing I could do for her…but she asked me to give you these." He handed her over the two USB-sticks, she took them and dropped them into her trousers' pocket.

Katarina didn't answer and if McGee didn't know it better, he would have thought to recognize a silent tear shimmering on her cheek.

"She also told me…that I should tell you that…she loved you and regretted splitting up with you," McGee added, hoping to find out an explanation for this message.

Katarina looked up with a surprised face. She wiped the tear from her cheek. "What?"

"I hoped you'd know what it meant…?" McGee asked and raised his eyebrows.

Katarina nodded slowly, "she and I were lovers…"

"Lovers?"

"Before I met Edoardo, we've been together for over a year. She's a Mossad agent and I've been hired by the agency for…not very legal affiliations. I met Ling by chance, actually, I had had the objective to kill her work partner at Mossad but we fell for each other immediately, so I killed my client. She helped me to not been hunted by Israeli cops and I got protection from Mossad and even did some dirty work for them. Finally, she split up with me because she had found someone else and I had to flee again, back to Italy. There I met Edoardo little while later," she explained and sighed deeply.

"Edoardo…was the man you wanted to marry?" McGee asked because Tony had only talked little about what he knew about the sisters.

"Yes…but right now, it is more important to find Tony. The plan was that Ling contacted her friends at Mossad and find out where they had brought Tony but we can forget this."

"Then what shall we do now?" McGee asked feeling the heat of Italy on his skin. Has he come all the way for nothing.

"Then it's time for plan B," Katarina answered with a short smile and he followed her back to the hotel ruin.


	11. Rose

**I don't own anything.**

Chapter 11

Tony blinked several times. His eyes hurt, there was sand in them rubbing his eyeball from inside. Before his vision could become clear, his head crashed again on the already red-sprinkled ground.

"Admit it, you fucking son of a bitch!" Agent Moshe screamed and spitted into Tony's face. "Killing director David was not only for 'self-defense' reasons. It also was because of your hatred toward the Israeli!"

"No," Tony moaned silently and prayed for that it would end quickly. But the agent just laughed. "Noam, get me my knife," he ordered and the other agent jumped into the car and little while later came back with it.

It rather looked like a tiny version of a sort, twenty centimeters long and sharply glooming in the sun light. Agent Moshe took it and bent forward to Tony who still tried to spit all of the sand out of his mouth.

* * *

"That was fast," Caroline commented when the door swung open and she recognized her sister coming in with Special Agent McGee.

"Hello," McGee greeted the older Montebello sister who greeted back. Then she sat down at the laptop at the desk and showed to two chairs so that McGee and Katarina could sit down.

"Cui's dead," Katarina said shortly.

Caroline turned around with a worried face. "I'm sorry to hear that…"

"Just…we need plan B. Here's the stick," she answered and tried to look strong but both McGee and Caroline knew that she was close to tears. Caroline wasted no time and put the stick online.

"Ah, Ling told me about two sticks," he suddenly mentioned.

"She always was a good liar," Caroline muttered but then answered, "I got it. She knew that she was close to being exposed. She gave me the access code to a satellite."

"This is impossible," McGee stammered realizing that Caroline was about to hack into a UN satellite.

"I'm not hacking in," she explained. "I'm just using a kind of second access to which I just got the code. It needs a few extra programming but all in all, it's a simple way. Now I can scan the area of Rome with reaching until two meters down. I've also installed a face recognition software so whenever Tony turned up, I'll notice," Caroline answered.

"Are there recordings of the last few hours?" Katarina asked.

"Yeah, I'm running several videos at the same time. It should be able to find Tony if he's still in Rome…although that might take quite a while," Caroline said and nodded.

* * *

Tony couldn't remember anything. His vision went blurry and black several times, he lost consciousness and gained it again, he wondered how much pain a human being could endure. He begged for mercy, prayed to God, knowing that he didn't even exist, but it wouldn't stop.

Sand was getting into his open wounds, burning him from the inside, the intense heat made his skin become read and flooded everything with the warm liquid blood. He heard the shouts of Agent Moshe and his partner Noam, he heard their insults, but words were nothing. Tony noticed that by now. Not what we say is important, what we do, shows who we truly are.

He smiled, or at least inside of himself he did so, even during his last moments he quoted movies. Then, Moshe grabbed his knife harder, he hesitated longer and he fixates his stomach with his look.

That's it, Ziva, Tony thought, I love you.

He closed his eyes but suddenly, he just heard another shout. No, not a shout, it was another voice, a familiar voice. He looked up. Moshe was standing over him, staring at Noam – or rather where he had stood.

Now, it was only a pile of clothes with flesh inside. Tony looked around, there she was, Caroline. Holding her gun up, obviously she had been the one shooting Noam. That was just like her, looking so damn hot with a revolver in her hand and not even disgusting although she has right now taken a life.

The weapon was pointed at Moshe, he dropped his knife and then on his knees. Caroline came closing, not blinking, targeting the Mossad agent. Only then did Tony recognize the other shadow next to her.

He couldn't believe it, it was McGee! Really his old friend McGeek, coming here to Italy? That was surely not authorized by anybody, so what was he doing here?

"Don't move!" Caroline shouted and came closer to the man. Suddenly, he burst out into laughing. Caroline looked irritated at Tony and just at that tiny moment, Agent Moshe picked up his knife and threw himself on the tortured NCIS agent.

"No!" Tony screamed seeing the silver knife rushing onto him. Then suddenly a shot and Moshe fell onto him.

"Tony!" Caroline screamed and fell down beside him. She rolled the agent from Tony and into the sand. "Come stai?" she muttered concerned.

"Miserabile," Tony moaned and his eye lids felt so heavy.

"Stay awake. We'll bring you into a hospital," McGee said and also kneed down. "I'll carry him, let's go," he added and Caroline nodded. Together they walked back to their car and it seemed like an eternity all the way to a hospital. Katarina tried to give them the fastest way but even google maps was sometimes hard to read.

* * *

"They made it," Gibbs could finally say and sacked back into his chair.

"Mother of all Gods," Fornell muttered. "Who called you?"

"McGee. He and Caroline brought him to a hospital, they say he'll recover within some time," the boss said. Just having received an SMS, Fornell looked at his cell.

"Some CIA agents are on their way to investigate him. But as soon as he's fit enough, he'll be able to return…both to the States and to duty," Fornell answered with a smile. "Nothing can harm your tough Special Agent DiNozzo," he commented.

"Very Special Agent," Gibbs corrected him. Not knowing how wrong they were…

* * *

It was nearly a week ago that Ziva had been brought to the safe house in Canada. She felt okay there, although she hasn't heard anything about Tony and she really worried. What if their child had to grow up with only her mother? How would she explain the reason why the little girl's father died?

Suddenly, she heard a noise. She put the baby down in the baby chair and went into the hallway. "Rose," she asked for the CIA agent who cared for her. There was no response. "Rose?" Ziva said again and entered the kitchen.

And there she was. Lying on the floor, her eyes widely open, her white blouse sprinkled red.

"Oh my God," Ziva muttered and kneed down beside her. The knife was still inside her stomach but there was no point in pulling it out. She was dead already.

"Who the-" she started to say but then remembered her daughter Kelly in the bedroom. She jumped up and turned around at once and nearly bumped into the person in front of her. Frightened, she staggered backward grabbing hold on the kitchen table.

"Who are you?" she asked the person in the black motorcycle suit, still wearing a black helmet.

"The one who hears your last breath," the black-dressed person said and walked forward.

Ziva started to scream when the black gloves touched her soft skin and clenched around her neck. She coughed when the grip got stronger and she could hardly breathe anymore.

After half a minute struggling and moaning, she sank down on the kitchen floor, right beneath CIA Agent Rose. The person in the black suit kneed down and closed her eyes, forever.

**I quote whoever Benedict Cumberbatch is going to play in 'Into Darkness' (I'll know who the day after tomorrow^^): "Now, shall we begin?"**


End file.
